Accidental needle puncture injuries are a major concern among health care workers worldwide. The risk of infection with hepatitis viruses, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) virus and other blood-borne pathogens, due to inadvertent injury by contaminated needles, is genuine and well documented in the medical literature.
Many attempts have been made to design safety devices that minimize the risk of accidental needle sticks after needle use and during and after disposal. The safety devices fall into several categories. These include spring-loaded needle guards and needle sheaths which are manually or automatically activated to cover or blunt the needle tip after use; syringes with devices that retract the needle into the syringe after use; syringes with attached hinged needle enclosures which are manually rotated or pivoted into place to shield the needle and needle tip after use; and syringes fitted with outer barrel sheaths which manually or automatically slide up and lock over the needle tip after use.
However, there are many disadvantages associated with the afore-mentioned devices. Foremost among the disadvantages is that the devices have multiple components, require tight tolerances in fabrication, and are expensive to manufacture, thereby contributing to rising medical costs. Moreover, the sheathed syringes have added bulk which contributes to disposal problems. The complicated nature of spring-loaded needle guards and sheaths makes them more prone to failure during use and after disposal and they are more expensive than conventional needles and syringes. These devices are also limited in usage, as few can be adapted to fit a range of standard disposable hypodermic needles and syringes, vacuum-tube phlebotomy needles, intravenous catheters and winged steel needles.
Therefore, there is still a need for a simple, reliable, inexpensive and cost-effective needle safety device to prevent accidental needle puncture injuries.